Travels Of Richard And John Lander Into The Interior Of Africa For The Discovery Of The Course And Termination Of The Niger By Robert Huish
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Small Towns And Villages Are Scattered
Over The Plain, And Herds Of Fine White Cattle Were Seen Grazing On
The Fallow Ground.
The inhabitants of Baebaejie, amounting to about
twenty or twenty-five thousand, are chiefly refugees from Bornou and
Waday, and their descendants, all engaged in trade.
They appeared
cleanly, civil, and industrious. A broad and good road thronged with
passengers and loaded animals, led in another day's journey to Kano.
CHAPTER XXVII.
The travellers found the city of Kano in a state of dreadful
agitation. There was war on every side. Hostilities had been declared
between the king of Bornou and the Fellatas; the provinces of Zamfra
and Goober were in open insurrection; the Tuaricks threatened an
inroad; in short, there was not a quarter to which the merchants
durst send a caravan. Kano being nearly mid-way between Bornou and
Sockatoo, Clapperton left his baggage there, to be conveyed to the
former place on his return, and set out for the capital of the sultan
Bello, bearing only the presents destined for that prince. On his way
he found numerous bands mustering to form an army for the attack of
Coonia, the rebel metropolis of Ghoober. The appearance of these
troops was very striking, as they passed along the borders of some
beautiful little lakes, formed by the river Zirmie.
The appearance of the country at this season was very beautiful; all
the acacia trees were in blossom, some with white flowers, others
with yellow, forming a contrast with the small dusky leaves, like
gold and silver tassels on a cloak of dark green velvet. Some of the
troops were bathing; others watering their horses, bullocks, camels,
and asses; the lake Gondamee as smooth as glass, and flowing around
the roots of the trees. The sun, in its approach to the horizon,
threw the shadows of the flowering acacias along its surface, like
sheets of burnished gold and silver. The smoking fires on its banks,
the sounding of horns, the beating of their gongs and drums, the
blowing of their brass and tin trumpets; the rude huts of grass or
branches of trees, rising as if by magic, everywhere the calls on the
names Mahomed, Abdo, Mustafa, &c., with the neighing of horses, and
the braying of asses, gave animation to the beautiful scenery of the
lake, and its sloping, green, and woody banks. The only regulation
that appears in these rude feudal armies is, that they take up their
ground according to the situation of the provinces, east, west,
north, or south; but all are otherwise huddled together, without the
least regularity.
The sultan was himself encamped with the forces from Sockatoo,
whither the travellers repaired to join him, and they arrived just in
time to be eye-witnesses of a specimen of the military tactics and
conduct of these much-dreaded Fellatas. This curious scene is thus
described: -
After the mid-day prayers, all except the eunuchs, camel-drivers, and
such other servants as were of use only to prevent theft, whether
mounted or on foot, marched towards the object of attack, and soon
arrived before the walls of the city.
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